Slow start hurts Drake in loss to Illinois State

The Drake Bulldogs suffered their fourth home loss in Missouri Valley Conference play as they were hammered by Illinois State 67-45 on Sunday. The first half set the done as the Bulldogs scored only 16 points in falling behind by 13 at the break.

Drake coach Mark Phelps on his postgame show on KRNT in Des Moines says they had a "very bad performance" on offense in the first half, going 0-12 form 3-point range. Phelps says 9 or 10 of the shots were good shots that the guys traditionally hit.

He says the Bulldogs never recovered from the shaky start, as once they couldn’t score and keep up, it dug too deep a hole for them to recover after halftime.